This morning I had a semi-sleep musing, I saw my father towards the end of his time in prison, a young man asks him about his Christian faith and they read from the Bible and pray together. I’d like to believe God had a plan for my father … I want so much to believe my dad truly was repentant and asked for forgiveness and is in heaven

Prior to my renewed faith, I had never felt drawn to the idea of fearing God … if anything, the idea of a wrathful God was part of what turned me away from religion in my early teen years. Recently I’ve begun to read a book called The Practice of Godliness by pastor/Christian speaker Jerry Bridges. In the very opening chapter he outlines what he thinks are the three essential elements of devotion to God, he explains these in terms of a triangle, with fear of God at the base, along with love of God, and desiring God at the top.

Mr. Bridges explains that fear of God is not necessarily only the type of anxious dread similar to what one feels towards a venomous snake or big exam, fear of God is an awe and reverence that develops out of contemplating His incredible majesty and omnipotence. An incredibly moving Bible passage Mr. Bridges references in the section “Fear of God” is Isaiah 6:1-8

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne;and the train of his robe filled the temple.2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.3 And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

I was very moved when I first read this, the scene is awe inspiring yet also fear inducing, just as Isaiah cried out in verse 5: “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” I felt within me a sense of my smallness before the majesty of God and regret at the arrogance I’ve so often lived throughout my life. Perhaps though, the most beautiful thing in developing a fear of God, is also trust in God as one begins to fathom His infinite strength and majesty, a feeling of the wrong view of thinking one shoulders their burdens in solitude. Mr. Bridges mentions how fear of God must develop alongside love of God if we are to overt being legalistic in our understanding of the Lord, that we must be further awed in awe by the understanding such an incredible Being loves us so.

Hi!! I thought I’d dust off this ol’ account and start posting 😄💛 I’ll primarily be discussing my feelings on my developing Christian faith. Thanks so much for visiting and please share with me your thoughts and feelings, I’d love to hear from you all!